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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

More Thread Lace Exploration...

After making many of my sample pieces during the Amanda McCavour workshop, I decided to play around with a realistic thread lace version of Wafer, my future dog guide puppy.

I had this picture of Wafer on my iPhone, so I put a piece of Fabri Solvy over the screen on my phone and traced it with a black pen.

Working from light to dark, I started stitching the foundation of the piece. At this point, the black lines you see are only drawn onto the water soluble stabilizer.

Shading was added using the darker thread, and then the black thread was added to outline the piece and add the facial features, etc.

I didn't get pictures, but when I washed out the solvy I lost an eye, and part of the shoulder area had a hole...not enough connecting threads (which you can see if you look carefully).

After some additional stitching to repair as needed, I again rinsed
out the Solvy and this time I had a cute little puppy to hang from my rear view mirror in the car. A fun little exercise that taught me a few things and now makes me smile whenever I'm in my car.

I am a fibre and mixed media artist who works primarily with my own hand-dyed fabrics, fibres and threads. I enjoy creating unique pieces using various surface design techniques.
In the spring of 2006 my friend Heather and I started the 'Group of Eight Fibre Artists’ or GOE (rhymes with toe) as we refer to ourselves. We meet monthly, inspiring and challenging one another in our art.
I also enjoy photography and art journalling and I try to make time for art daily. I say try, because all of this art is fit into my volunteer role as a foster 'Mom' to Future Dog Guides which I raise for the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides. I raise these incredible puppies from 6 1/2 weeks until they are about 10 to 12 months old, teaching them all of their basic commands and socializing them, getting them ready for life as a working guide dog for one of six roles: Canine Vision, Hearing Ear, Autism Assistance, Seizure Response, Diabetic Alert or Service Dog for the Physically or Medically Disabled.